Planning Workshop
for
Southeast Bering Sea Carrying Capacity

A NOAA Coastal Ocean Program Regional Ecosystem Study administered by the University of Alaska, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, and Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory

November 28-30, 1995
Battelle Seattle Conference Center, Seattle, Washington

Charge to Attendees

Contribute expertise to the discussion of research priorities and approaches that address issues critical to an examination of the southeastern Bering Sea ecosystem and the role of walleye pollock within it:

Scientific Issues

  1. How does climate variability influence the Bering Sea ecosystem?  How does climate variability affect the physical regimes of the southeastern Bering Sea?   Is there historical evidence for a regime shift in the Bering Sea, and how is this reflected in ecological relationships?  What information will we need to further clarify this?   How have past changes in the species mix in the region related to climatic and oceanographic variability?
  2. What limits population growth in the Bering Sea?   Is there evidence of a carrying capacity, e.g., for pollock?   What is the role of cannibalism in controlling pollock populations?   What is the feeding and switching behavior of juvenile pollock and their predators?   What is the ecological role of pollock in the Bering Sea, and what energetics links exist among pollock and apex species?
  3. How do oceanographic conditions influence biological distributions?  How do oceanic conditions influence overlap or separation between predators and prey?  Do ocean conditions create discrete aggregations of pollock, and do life histories differ in separate aggregations?   Does sea ice influence the distribution of pollock, and if so, how?   What maintains separations between biophysical domains?
  4. What influences primary and secondary production regimes?   How do primary and secondary production respond to climatic variability?  What are the sources of nutrients to the southeastern Bering Sea shelf, and what processes affect their availability?

Management Issues

  1. How do environmental effects influence the availability of juvenile pollock to higher trophic level predators?
  2. What is the minimum number of juvenile pollock necessary to sustain the predatory needs of top trophic level consumers in the Bering Sea and to sustain a viable spawning population? What is the minimum number of spawners necessary to produce that juvenile population?
  3. How do fishery removals impact the production and distribution of juvenile pollock?
SEBSCC Planning Workshop